Men’s rugby team takes on Brazil on home turf

West Shore residents are in for a treat as some of the best rugby players in the world are getting set to face off in Langford next month.

Canada’s men’s team, which practices out of Langford, will take on Brazil as part of the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship at Westhills Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 17.

“We are excited to return home to Westhills Stadium to face Brazil on Feb 17. We train here day-in, day-out and know that the local crowd will get behind us as they have done over the past few years,” said head coach Kingsley Jones, adding a recent five-day training camp in Langford was a success.

“I am really pleased with the past week’s training here in Langford. It was great to see a mix of experienced players like Tyler Ardron, Phil Mack and Ray Barkwill and less experienced internationals getting some rugby in a controlled training session ahead of the upcoming tests against Uruguay.”

As part of the competition, Canada, the U.S., Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina ‘A’ will face off in a round-robin style format across multiple locations in North and South America, beginning at B.C. Place in Vancouver on Jan. 27.

On Saturday, Feb. 3, Canada will take on Uruguay in an additional test match in Montevideo to decide who will represent Americas 2 in Pool D at next year’s 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The tournament champion will be crowned on March 3.

Tickets for the game at Westhills Stadium start at $10 and can be purchased at events.rugbycanada.ca. Kick off is at 6:30 p.m.